The Future in Her Eyes
by Pagan Ianthe
Summary: Blaise is taking his daughter shopping for her first year at Hogwarts.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Harry Potter characters; they are the creations of JK Rowling and the property of WB, Bloomsbury Books and Scholastic.  
**Author Note:** Please enjoy and I love hearing from the people who enjoy (or don't).

"Cara, I am sure that _Teen Witch_ is not on the list of needed books for your first year." Blaise leaned against the end of a long, tall bookcase and watched as the slender brunette hurried to pick up as many magazines and unsuitable teenage novels as possible. "I said one book, not the whole set!" He sighed when she turned her dark grey puppy eyes on him, knowing he wouldn't be able to resist. "All right, you can have three. That's it though, no more."

"Thank you, Daddy." She rushed up to him, her arms overflowing with brightly covered books. "I promise you I'll work extra hard if I can have just two more." She dumped the books into his waiting arms and stood there, looking so much like her mother that for a moment Blaise felt breathless.

"I will send you the rest when I hear about your first test grades, and not before." He had to put his foot down or else she would walk all over him in her tiny booted feet.

"But Da-ad," she whined in the way he had heard many other girls do, but it wasn't going to work, he hardened his heart and glared at her until she put the other books back. "Okay, I guess."

Across the shop Blaise could see his best friend and two redheaded children; they were also buying for their first year at Hogwarts. He hadn't spoken to Draco in a few months, having closed himself and the Zabini house off from the outside world. "Look, Dad it's Uncle Draco and the boys." With a huge friendly grin on her face, Cara rushed over to say hello to her friends. Blaise was just a tiny bit jealous of her ability to jump back into real life, but she was only eleven and very resilient. He had spent nights with her, holding her as she sobbed into his chest, but when she was asleep, he was left only with the darkness and his memories to keep him company.

"Zabini," Draco had left Michael and David talking with Cara, hoping that they wouldn't get up to mischief. "Good to see you."

"Malfoy." They stood there, looking at each other in what was an uncomfortable silence. Blaise couldn't stand it for long. "It's been a while." He wanted to get home now. The crowds were too much; it was as though they were all watching, waiting for some kind of reaction.

"Ginny was disappointed that you didn't come to Ella's naming ceremony last month." Draco didn't know what else to say. This was an awkward situation, he had no idea what to say to people suffering the way that Blaise obviously was.

"I'm sorry. It was too soon." He shrugged and stared straight ahead, focused on something that no one else could see.

"Cara looks well." Draco watched his two oldest joking and trying to make Cara laugh and he was, for once, glad that they took after their troublesome uncles. "You should come for dinner before they all go to Hogwarts next week."

"I'll think about it." Blaise didn't look back as he walked away, emotion threatening to choke him. He dumped the books down on the front desk and watched as the small witch behind it started to total up the cost, a friendly smile on her face.

"Cara, are you ready?" He didn't raise his voice, but the deep tone carried well above the bustling crowd gathered in the shop. "We've still got to collect your robes from Malkin's before we can leave."

Cara looked at her friends regretfully, hugging both Michael and David tightly before re-joining her father and picking up one of the lighter bags of books from the counter. "Michael said that his dad's having a party on Friday. Can we go?" She spoke quietly, afraid that he would say no.

"I thought that we would go to the beach for the weekend." Blaise knew that she was growing up, but as long as he had her at home he wanted her to be his. Cara's face fell. It wasn't that she didn't love the beach, but it was so quiet and lonely there. She wanted to spend some time with her friends. She wanted her dad to be happy again. "If you really want to go I am sure we can sort out something."

"Thank you," she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him tightly, uncaring of the people who now had to move around them to get to wherever they were going.

Blaise half-smiled when Cara let go and started to skip down to where Madam Malkin had opened her second shop in Diagon Alley, "Don't rush, Cara."

Standing in Malkin's dress shop, watching Cara as she brushed her fingers along the soft, expensive materials that were hanging on long rails against the wall, Blaise was engulfed in memories. She had done that once, her face glowing as she giggled, one hand on the material, her other cradling her bulging stomach. "Don't you think this will look beautiful, Blaise?" Her voice haunted his sleep, his every waking moment.

They had been walking through Hogsmeade on a weekend away from school when he had realised that she held his heart in her tiny hands. The revelation had been painful and at the same time, the idea that someone so unique, so special, cared for him that much was comforting.

He had proposed to her on the day he graduated from his seventh year, and they had been married just days after she graduated the following year. Cara had been born less than five months after their wedding day, no one had been surprised.

Frustrated and angry with himself he wiped the stubborn tears from his face and refused to let any more fall. "Daddy, are you all right?" Cara clasped one hand tightly and squeezed it, wishing she could make his pain go away, wishing she could turn the clock back and make everything better again.

"I'll be all right, Cara." He attempted a smile and pushed their daughter back toward the dress robes she had been admiring. Cara had been her idea. "It means darling, Blaise. And she is, ours." She had stroked Cara's soft head with one finger, a tender smile on her face as the pale blonde hair had tickled her fingers. "I love you."

"I love you," he murmured as he held her every night in their bed, hearing her heart beat against his ear.

The day her heart had stopped beating had been the day he had stopped. He had stood there with her limp body in his arms. He had never felt so helpless. One moment they had been laughing, watching Cara on her first broom, the next she had crumpled to the floor, her eyes blank, her face cold, her lips purple.

"Nothing we could do…sorry…she's already dead…Mr Zabini?"

Everything had sounded like it was being shouted down an endless tunnel and he couldn't focus. There had been no time to prepare for this, it had just happened, an aneurysm at the age of 28. One minute she had been there, the next he had been left alone, cold.

"Daddy, can I have this one?" Cara held up a bright blue robe and Blaise was brought back to the present. She was theirs. In his head, if he closed his eyes, he could hear Luna_, "she's going to be a Ravenclaw, Blaise…she even picks out our colours."_

"Daddy, it's not so bad…I'll pick out a green one too," Cara didn't know what else to do. She went and selected a dark green robe. "See!"

_"She's beautiful, look after her. I love you."_ Her voice was a whisper on the breeze under the door, gone as soon as you noticed it, but the words haunted him. He wanted to beg her to come back, to never leave him, but the words refused to come as though they knew that they weren't supposed to be said aloud.


End file.
